Most private universities have failed to move to their permanent campuses with only a few days left before the ministry deadline for the universities to do so.
Only nine of the 54 private universities could move to their permanent campus as of Saturday, according to University Grants Commission.
The education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, in December 2010 said that the government would not allow after September 2011 admission of students to private universities which would fail to shift to permanent campuses by the stipulated time of five years after the universities started operation.
The UGC report said that eight universities did not take any step to move to their permanent campuses although the deadline is about to expire.
Some universities started constructing buildings and the remaining universities have just bought the land but are not running their campuses on their own land. And they have also submitted related papers to the commission.
The UGC chair, AK Azad Chowdhury, said that universities failing to go by the government decision would not be allowed to enrol new students after September.
But the university authorities will get time to complete the academic life of the existing students, he said.
Nahid later said that the government would consider the matter if universities could show that they were trying to move to permanent campuses.
The education ministry then decided that if universities could submit documents of the land they bought for the permanent campuses, the government would not stop the enrolment.
According to the latest UGC report, the eight universities that could not submit any papers to the commission regarding the move till August 25 are Darul Ihasan University, Prime University, World University of Bangladesh, Prime Asia University, Royal University of Dhaka, Presidency University, Victoria University of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Islami University.
Some of these eight universities submitted their documents of land purchase after the submission of the UGC report.
UGC officials said that there were problems with the papers of the land ownership of some of the universities.
They said that some universities had bought land outside Dhaka but they will run their campuses in Dhaka. And there are also problems with papers for some owners.
When asked, the UGC chairman said that they had a committee to check whether the documents of the land were up to the mark.
The nine universities that have moved to their permanent campuses are North South University, University of Science and Technology, International Islamic University, Chittagong, Ahsanullah Science and Technology University, International University of Business, Agriculture and Technology, BGC Trust University of Bangladesh, Bangladesh University of Business and Technology, Independent University Bangladesh and Stamford University Bangladesh. BRAC University moved to its campus at Savar but was yet to start its academic activities there, UGC officials said.
The seven universities that are constructing buildings on their land are East West University, Ganabishwabidyalay, South East University, City University, University of Asia Pacific, Daffodil International University and Eastern University.
The vice-chancellor of the World University of Bangladesh, Abdul Mannan Choudhury, however, told New Age that they had been trying to move to their permanent campus since 2004.
‘There is a miscommunication between the
commission and universities. We have already submitted our documents to the commission,’ he said.
The UGC chair said that private universities must abide by the Private University Act 2010.
‘We do not want to be unusually harsh on private universities but we will not compromise with the quality of higher education. Private universities must abide by the Private University Act 2010,’ he said.
-With New Age input
